Archive for March 3rd, 2010

That what the homeowner said to my old boss when we told her we had to rip out her living room ceiling. We were hired to do an addition, kitchen and one bathroom renovation. Now we had to rip out her living room ceiling.

She was not happy at all about that. She called her husband in a panic. The reason we had to rip out the ceiling is because our electrician was chasing down old wires from other places in the house we demoed and was finding live wires behind the sheetrock.

Apparently the previous owner thought he was an electrician and decided to run wires all over the house incase he ever needed them there. The only thing was, the wires were tied into the electrical panel and were live. And live buried wires could leave you dead! That’s how fires start.

It would have been one thing if they were properly capped off with a wire nut in side an electrical box (even though by code you are not supposed to cover up an electrical box with out access to it). Nope this clown ran these wires and just taped off the ends and left them free floating in the ceiling.

So even after we explained everything to the homeowner she still needed to call her husband before we did anything. I understand that, it’s more work. My boss was a nice guy and told her that he would cover the labor if she paid for the sheetrock. It was the safety of her family and technically by code she had too, but she made the right decision and said yes.

The point I am trying to make, is that with any renovation to your house, there could be surprises. You never know what you will get when you start opening up walls. By law if a contractor opens up your walls and finds violations of any kind they have to fix them.

So you might be wondering what they could possible find….Well if you have an old house you could find old cloth wires that fall apart to the touch. If you had any kind of major leaks over time (or the previous owners had the leaks), you could find rot in your framing that has to be fixed. Plumbing surprises are always fun! But don’t freak out, just plan ahead for them. In the trades they are called “extras” and they almost always happen on any job. You are not alone. If you luck out your contractor may work with you on some of the cost. Maybe not, but either way the work has to be done.

That is almost the number one rule when hiring a contractor. You get what you pay for. If someone can do the job for $5,000 less than the other guy, more than likely he is cutting corners somewhere which could lead to a nightmare for you.

I was at an old friends mom’s house years ago and she had a sun room put on to the back of the house way before I was ever there. I was walking around and noticing that the room looked like it was sinking into the ground. She told me that was because the contractor never dug the footings to the required 3 feet deep, her sun room was slowly sinking. And because it took a few years to settle, it is going to be a major nightmare to fix that problem. Just to save a few hours and labor on digging holes and pouring cement she has a room that is sinking into the ground.

Don’t get me wrong, just because the contractor’s bill is the highest doesn’t mean he is the best. You should start your search by talking to people you know. If someone you trust is giving you a name of a good contractor, it’s a place to start (I would go over to your friend’s house and check out his work before picking up the phone). Start with family and friends, than work your way down to a trusted realtor or neighbor.

Once you start talking to a contractor you are allowed to ask as many questions as you would like. In fact ask for a resume! I’m serious, ask for pictures, past client’s testimonials and than take it one step further and ask to talk to some previous clients. Most previous clients don’t mind taking that call after a major renovation to brag about their house and talk up their contractor.

Now, I know once you get a few bids from a few contractors you usually get sticker shock from the price. That causes a lot of people to wait or put the job on hold for a few months sometimes even a year. One thing to remember is that contractors who do any kind of major renovations set up their projects months in advance. The other thing to keep in mind is lumber yards and supply houses prices. They fluctuate with the price of gasoline (from their deliveries) and any other reason to raise the price. So the price of your materials can jump up in a month depending on the market.

Hiring a contractor for something like an addition can be very scary. You are trusting someone with thousands of your hard earned dollars, letting them into your home. They are usually there before breakfast and leave just before dinner, you tend to build a relationship with a contractor and that is why it is always good to find one you click with. We have all heard the contractor nightmares, so when you do find a good one, they are usually worth their weight in gold.